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List of influences on popular culture
This is a list of real life topics or fictional works which have been influenced by the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise. Animation *The Dr. Slump remake from 1997 has several references to Dragon Ball. In one episode Arale and Akane are seen playing a Dragon Ball Z video game with Akane playing as Goku and Arale playing as Vegeta. Akane ends up winning the game. Another time Arale puts the last volume of Dragon Ball into the Reality Machine and a black and white Goku comes out and fights a black and white Kid Buu. There is also a 4 episode story arc where the young Goku ends up in Penguin Village with appearances from Ninja Murasaki, General Blue and even Shenron. *Goku has been cited as an inspiration for such protagonists as Monkey D. Luffy, Naruto Uzumaki, and Zatch Bell from the One Piece, Naruto, and Zatch Bell series respectively. **In episode 6 of Naruto SD, "Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals", the card Ten Ten draws out of the box says "A thrilling conclusion where seeing your best friend killed causes you to snap and awakens your latent powers?!" Shizune states that it is straight out of Dragon Ball, referencing the Frieza Saga when Krillin gets killed and Goku turns into a Super Saiyan for the first time. *In the show Dexter's laboratory, Deedee in her giant mech performs an attack similar to a Kamehameha. *In the anime Shuriken School, the founder of Shuriken School, Koji Murasaki, is a ninja who looks very similar to Ninja Murasaki, in addition of bearing the same name. *In the 16th episode of the anime My Bride is a Mermaid, Vegeta and Trunks can be seen in the background. *The character Omi from the show Xiaolin Showdown resembles the Orin Temple monks (especially Krillin] due to the lack of nose, as he had his own design based on Krillin). *Goku and Goten are clay-mated in the "A Very Dragon Ball Z Christmas" skit featured in the Robot Chicken episode "Easter Basket". In the sketch, Goku and Goten help Santa Claus fight the evil forces which want to take over Christmas. After defeating Mrs. Claus, Goku and Goten state that the World Martial Arts Tournament is complete while Santa, who is puzzled as to what they're talking about, and also angered by the death of his wife, decides never to deliver presents to Japan again. *In an episode of Codename: Kids Next Door named Operation R.E.P.O.R.T., when Number Four tells a story, it is a parody of Dragon Ball Z, including the Delightful Children from Down the Lane resembling Frieza, Number 4 going Super Saiyan, and a parody of the Kamehameha using a gumball. *In the The Fairly OddParents TV movie Channel Chasers, a show called "Maho Mushi" is featured, which is a parody of Dragon Ball. *In the show called The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, there is an episode (called "Grim for a Day/''Chicken Ball Z''/Halls of Time") which is a parody of the World Martial Arts Tournament. When Billy and Mandy fight each other, they both power up with golden auras that resemble Super Saiyan auras. *In the TV movie special Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, the troopers wear helmets almost identical to the Great Saiyaman, Gohan's super hero alter ego. *In an episode of the 2003 Duck Dodgers series, Porky Pig mentions watching reruns of Dragon Ball. *An episode of Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes is called "The Shell Games", which is much like the Cell Games. *In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime, the Dark Signer Roman Goodwin (Rudger in the Japanese version) has a similar hair style and red facial markings to Baby Vegeta. *In the manga series To Love-Ru, the main female Lala makes a reference to Dragon Ball when she shows the protagonist Rito that she has a tail, which freaks him out. She tells him that he doesn't have to worry and says that she doesn't transform when she looks at the full moon. Another time, she is shown trying several odd outfits to look for a normal one, two of the odd outfits she was seen in were Goku's uniform and the Bunny costume Bulma wore. Additionally, it is revealed that when her tail is pulled, she is weakened, much like Goku. *In the Latin American dub of "Cow and Chicken", when Cow asked Cousin Black Sheep why he is so bad, he answer her that he is bad because he watched Dragon Ball Z. *In the Latin American dub of The Simpsons, when the Simpsons family gets stuck in Japan and Homer was working in a Eel Farm, he used an Eel like a whip, changing the TV Channel saying: "I wanna watch Dragon Ball Z". *In the popular Western cartoon Chowder, there is a episode where a character named Schnitzel powers up and becomes similar to a Super Saiyan, including a yell and growing golden hair. *In the Cartoon Network series MAD, in the skit "Grey's in Anime", the nurse tells the doctor "His heart rate is over 9000!" with the doctor replying "What? Over 9000?! That's impossible! I'm gonna have to power up to Super Surgeon! Upon saying this, the doctor's hair becomes that of a Super Saiyan, and his shirt disappears. This episode also makes reference to other manga series, like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon. **In another episode of MAD, called "Money Ball Z", Goku and other Z Fighters become baseball players. *A character in the anime series MM! transforms into a Super Saiyan in the 5th episode. *In the 9th School Rumble ''episode, one of the main characters, Harima, transforms into a Super Saiyan (in his manga) during his fight with Kurasama (who is ironically voiced by Eric Vale the Funimation voice actor for Trunks). Additionally, Harima has clothes similar to Vegeta's GT outfit. In the episode he fights Kurasama for Tenma's love, they both shoot energy blasts and reenact the fight between Majin Vegeta and Goku when they clash their energies in a sphere. *In an episode of ''Yakitate!! Ja-pan, in the Yakitate 9 Arc, when the opponent baker gave his bread called "Super Toro Aburi" up for the judge, Kuroyanagi, he transforms into "Super Kuroyanagi" (a parody of a Super Saiyan) after tasting it. Kyosuke Kawachi, who commented on his reaction to be cheap, was put in a freezer costume (a parody of Frieza) and fights him off while explaining how amazing the bread was, and then finishes him off by throwing a giant beehive pastry in the same manner as Goku releases a Kamehameha. *In the Johnny Bravo episode "20,000 Leagues Over My Head", Johnny's new obsession is a television show called "Clam League 9000", a parody of Pokémon where the trainer bares a resemblance to Goku while wearing a similar outfit like Ash Ketchum and his rival looks like a green skinned Vegeta wearing an outfit similar to the Team Rocket uniform. *The show Keroro Gunso ("Sgt Frog" in English) has many references to Dragon Ball Z. *The Reboot episode "My Two Bobs" involves Enzo and one of the Bobs entering a world reminiscent of Pokémon crossed with DragonBall Z, Enzo's reboot form looks like a cross between Vegeta, Yamcha, and Ash Ketchum they face off against a trainer who looks like a Super Saiyan Goku wearing Tien's outfit. *The manga and anime Bobobo-bo Bo-Bobo makes regular parodies of Dragon Ball Z. Various fusions between the main character and other members of his team are common. Also, the character Don Patch can become Professional Patch (Don "Ikarin" Patch in Japanese), turning gold and gaining an upward curve to his body spikes, similar to a the Super Saiyan transformation. *Many references to Dragon Ball Z are made in the anime version of Gin Tama; the first is a scene that starts with Kagura teleporting onto Shinpachi's head, resembling how Goku did the same in his fight against Nappa. Additionally, Kagura comments "Too slow, Nappa". Gintoki is then seen as Yamcha, mimicking Vegeta's line "He's fast", except substituting the female pronoun for the male one. The second scene would be Gintoki comedically practicing a Kamehameha, to no avail as his friends look at him with a loss of respect for him. Finally, the third scene would be the main cast participating in an amalgamated show of Dragon Ball, One Piece and Bleach, called DragonBleaPiece. Gin Tama also parodies the opening of Dragon Ball Z Kai, "Dragon Soul", replacing the cast with their own main characters. Television and Movies *In the movie Fight Club, box sets of Dragon Ball Z are seen being trashed along with hundreds of other movies. *In the movie Agent Cody Banks, posters of the Z Fighters and one of just Goku are seen on Cody's bedroom walls. *In the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character Andrew Wells claims his life is like Vegeta's from Dragon Ball Z, who originates as a villain but eventually changes his ways and joins Goku to fight for the side of good (Andrew claims this in the episode Potential). *On the popular comedy show Two and a Half Men, in the episode 'Squab,Squab,Squab,Squab,Squab' when Alan asks Jake whats it gonna take to get him to spend time with his Grandma, one of the things that Jake says he wants is the new Dragon Ball Z game. *A Big Citrus advertisement uses an altered image of Gohan for a commercial. *In the television series "Pearlie", there is a episode called "Dragonball Run". *In the movie The Matrix Revolutions, the final fight between Neo and Smith appears to be very similar to fights in DBZ. *In the movie documentary Super Size Me, Dragon Ball Z toys are seen at a shop. *In the movie Birth, Sean has a backpack featuring Super Saiyan Goku. *In the movie Are We There Yet?, a boy asks Nick if his store carries Dragon Ball GT. *In the movie War of the Worlds, Dakota has figurines of Emperor Pilaf and Mr. Satan's car. *In the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin, a Goku action figure is seen on Andy's bed and a boxed figure of Kibito is seen on one of Andy's shelves. *In the movie American Gun, the show is discussed. *In the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a bartender mentions the show by name. *In the movie The Glass House, Ruby wakes up her brother by telling him "They're giving away free Dragon Ball Z tapes at Blockbuster. If we hurry, we can beat the rush." *In the television series Criminal Minds, the computer hacker has figures of Super Saiyan Goku and Gohan Buu. *In the television show Heroes the character Ando fires his red lightning in a similar way to the way Goku fires his Kamehameha. *In the television series According to Jim, during a marriage counselling session Jim states that his weekends are spent "watching Dragon Ball Z with his kids" he then goes on to say "there are 7 of them" *In the movie The Tooth Fairy, in the background of the kid's room you can see a Goku statue/ figurine. *In the movie Friends with Money, starring Jennifer Aniston, Frances McDormand discusses the responsibilities of caring for friends' children in her home, with friends at a dinner outing, and says: "This kid played at my house all day, and his parents don't know who I am. I see them at school, they don't even say thank you. I've kissed their kids' boo-boos, cleaned his pee." Friends say they would want to know everything their kid was doing. One of them asks McDormand: "Where's yours?", and she replies with "Sitting in front of Dragon Ball Z where I left him." One of the friends says: "I think it's too violent.", then his wife says "You think SpongeBob is too violent.", and he responds with: "No. I think it's ugly." *On the radio station(s) that features Dr. Drew and "Love Line" in California, a caller requests to speak with current guest Tom Green, and asks him if he has any videogames in the works. The caller repeatedly asks Tom Green if he's played the Dragon Ball Z games. Dr. Drew asks Tom himself: "He wants to know if you play any of the Dragon Ball Z games?". Tom comments on the concepts involved with Dragon Ball Z, relating to "super aliens invading earth, and super warriors". *In the movie Kindergarten Cop, in the famous "You belong to me now!" scene, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger is yelling at the children, drawings of the seven Dragon Balls can clearly be seen in the background. *On the "TV Funhouse" of Saturday Night Live, competitive eating champion Kobayashi is featured in KOBAYASHI The Hot Dog Eater, which parodies Dragon Ball Z In the skit, he transforms into a Super Saiyan and eats hot dogs to save people. The skit is completely in Japanese, but different variations of both original and English DBZ music is used during the skit, as well as footage of the show itself in the background. The intro also has him land and transform into a Super Saiyan, much like the actual intro to DBZ. Crude drawings of villains are made as well, these include Dr. Gero, Android 19, King Cold, Captain Ginyu, Hirudegarn, Dabura, Pui Pui, and Frieza.SNL-TV-Funhouse-KOBAYASHI-The-Hot-Dog-Eater at metatube.com *In the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs the World, the titular character battles a bass-playing vegan named Todd Ingram (played by Brandon Routh), who has gained psychic powers by not eating meat. When Todd powers up, his blond hair stands straight up in a process similar to that of the Super Saiyan transformation. He also uses energy-based attacks, somewhat similar to those used by characters throughout the Dragon Ball series. The fact that Todd is vegan is most likely a play on the way that all Saiyans, such as Vegeta, are named after vegetables. *The appearance of Future Hiro in the series Heroes was inspired by Future Trunks. In an interview, actor Masi Oka compared Trunks to his Heroes character Hiro Nakamura, as both are time travelers that carry swords. *In the crime drama series Criminal Minds the character Penelope Garcia has a Gotenks figurine on her desk. *In the comedy series Grounded for Life, Sean mentions a conversation with his son about Dragon Ball Z. *In the Disney comedy series, "So Random!", they do a bit called the "Anime Brothers" where Scott resembles Goku, having the same spiky hair and same style of outfit. His brother Elliot resembles Naruto. They mention Dragon Ball Z as "Marudo Ball D". Music *On Emmure's album Goodbye to Gallows is a song entitled "Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle", in homage to the Dragonball movie. *On Emmure's album Speaker of the Dead is a song entitled "Solar Flare Homicide", in a homage to the Solar Flare technique. The songtext trades of the fact that someone can not find his opponent in cause of a "fire in the sky". The fire stands for the Solar Flare. In the music video effects are inserted which point Solar Flare and other known attacks of the Dragon Ball Z series. *"U Know What it Is", a song by American rapper Young Jeezy from his 2006 studio album The Inspiration, samples "Pikkon's Theme", a song recorded by Bruce Faulconer for the FUNimation Dub of Dragon Ball Z. *"Spell it Out", a song by American rapper Mike Shinoda (of Fort Minor/Linkin Park ), samples "Cell's Theme", a song recorded by Bruce Faulconer for the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z. *B.o.B mentions Super Saiyan in his song autotune. *Krillin appears in his Saiyan armor on the cover of the album Who is, This is (by Voodoo Glow Skulls) *Rapper Soulja Boy has two songs that reference Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks, Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, the Ginyu Force, Korin, Master Roshi, Chi-Chi, and Super Saiyan.http://www.geekosystem.com/soulja-boy-anime-song/ *Jahred from Hed PE mentions the Kamehameha in the song "Killing Time." *The Japanese punk metal band "Maximum the Hormone" has a song called "F" which pays a homage to Frieza. *Wacka Flocka references DBZ in the song "Wild Boy" by Machine Gun Kelly, stating "Suck my Dragonballs b----, call me Goku." *In Frank Ocean's debut album, channel ORANGE, the song "Pink Matter" (feat. Andre 3000) references Majin Buu. *''Dragonball Z'' is mentioned in the song "Dansplaat" from the Dutch rapgroup Brainpower. Manga/Comic books *In MAD Kids magazine, issue 2, there is a make your own SpongeBob story, and after you choose a SpongeBob character, one of the options of who he visits is Goku. *The first issue of Mecha-Nation (a 3 issue miniseries) contains a profile for several characters. The profile for Marcus Brand/Blast mentions him to be geek for various mediums of entertainment (including anime) and can "rattle off Dragon Ball power levels on an episode-by-episode basis". *''Crayon Shin-Chan'' protagonist Shin-Chan uses Frieza's mask and acts like Frieza.http://www.mangafox.com/manga/crayon_shin_chan/v01/c020/1.html *In the manga Mahou Sensei Negima, Goku, Piccolo, and the fat Majin Buu can be seen in the background in one scene. In addition, a minor character claims he knows how to use the Kamehameha. Later on, one character makes a reference to Muscle Tower. *King Piccolo can be seen being sucked in by a black hole in Chapter 338 of Gin Tama. *A spoof of Goku appears in Bongo's Simpsons comics Issue 45. He is seen fighting Mr. Sparkle and using an attack called the 'Krakatoa Attack". *In Yomeiro Choice volume 2, chapter 6, their are many parodies of things from Dragon Ball, like scouters, and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. In this chapter they had YP or wife/yome points, in fact Karin's starting yome level was 5 and her mom's yome level was 530,000 and she even states it in a similar way as Frieza did. Video Games *In the Street Fighter series, the characters Ryu and Ken use an energy ball technique called the Hadouken. Though not a beam of energy, the position of both character's hands is identical to that of the hand positions to form a Kamehameha. It is also blue like the Kamehameha is. *There is a reference in the game World of Warcraft. A player who gains 9000 achievement points gains the achievement "It's Over Nine Thousand!" *In the game Monday Night Combat, there is an unlockable Highlight ProTag called "Over 9000." It reveals an icon of a bag that has an obvious resemblance of the four-star ball. This can be gained by receiving over $9000 in lifetime earnings in the game. *In the game Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, the famous "Over 9000" meme from the Ocean dub is referenced after the "Triple Wave Armor" is unlocked. The description for this is "Surprisingly, funnelled Electroshock capacitor energy at the right frequency through both Wildfire and Sludge Mk. 9 armor parts created a recursive feedback loop that dramatically increased the potential peak power output, nearly into the Petagigawatt range. As one Gadgetron research scientist famously reported, "It's over nine thousaaand!!!" *Yet another PlayStation 3 game inFamous 2 makes a reference to the Over 9000 meme when one of the posters in the city says "Over 9000 clubs". *The Over 9000 meme is also featured in the Nintendo DS game Scribblenauts. If you write "It's over nine thousand" then you get a monocle. *Another Nintendo DS game Ninjatown, also features the infamous meme. *In the Nintendo DS game Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, when you talk to a character named Sal Manella he'll say "IT'S OVER 9000!". *In the Nintendo DS game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, there is a mission called Dragon Haul Z, obviously a pun on Dragon Ball Z, in which you have to pick up a dragon costume that looks like Shenron and do a special dance in this costume. *The popular MMO-RPG World of Warcraft also features the "Over 9000!" meme as a Feat of Strength. *Another MMORPG (RuneScape) has a monster named the "Ferret of Doom" with a combat level of 9001. *One of the achievements in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero 5 (and a trophy on the PlayStation 3 version) is titled "Over 9000!" in reference to the internet meme. *A house in Fable II that has dozens of plants in it is titled "The House of Might" which is a reference to the film Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might. *In the game Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Lucario (who was at one point voiced by Sean Schemmel) has a final smash which is quite similar to a Kamehameha. *In the Wii game Mortal Kombat: Armegeddon, the Kreate-a-Fighter mode includes Goku's hairstyle listed as "Anime 2", which means "Goku" can be created and played by the player, since the game has exactly the right clothes for Goku. It is also possible to create "Mystic Gohan" as well. *Yuji Naka, one of the founders of the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise by SEGA, has revealed that he is a fan of the Dragon Ball series, and includes such homages as Sonic going "Super". **It is generally understood that Silver the Hedgehog from SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is based on Future Trunks, due to that both came from a ruined future to fix something in the past, both lose someone they care about deeply in their futures (Gohan for Trunks and Blaze for Silver), said deaths lead a motion of events (Future Gohan's death leads to Trunks's first (anime) Super Saiyan transformation and Blaze's sacrifice leads Silver to go back in time to destroy Iblis and save Blaze), both have super forms (Super Silver and Trunks' Super Saiyan), and both gain something from their experiences in the past that helps them defeat their disaster (strength and knowledge of the Android's weaknesses for Trunks and knowledge of how to defeat Iblis for Silver). His entry in the game script reveals that even his creators compared the two. *One of the achievements in Red Dead Redemption's downloadable Liars and Cheats pack is titled "Over 9001," another reference to the internet meme. *In the fighting game series Power Stone, the character Wang-Tang has a martial arts fighting style reminiscent of Goku's, and upon transforming with 3 powerstones, has his hair stick up and become blonde like a Super Saiyan. In this stage, he has several ki-themed attacks, as well as an ultimate attack identical to Goku's Spirit Bomb. *In Addictinggames.com's popular game Potty Racers, if one flies high enough into space, a stick figure Super Saiyan appears. *In the flash game Super Karoshi when the character goes super, he grows hair identical to Super Saiyan Goku, and gains an ability to fly, and gets a cape. *The popular iOS game Jetpack Joyride has three striking DBZ references: **A clothing item called "Super Suit" is identical to the famous Turtle School uniform, its description says "Be ready for the Martial Arts Tournament in this bright orange super suit. It costs 8000 coins." **Another clothing item called "Powered Up Hair" contains a head with green eyes and a hairstyle that reminds Super Saiyan adult Gohan and supposed to be a Super Saiyan version of the main character BARRY. Its description says "We are not really sure what the power level of this hair is. It's probably a lot". It costs 9001 coins as an obvious reference to the popular meme "It's Over 9000!" **One of the vehicles in the game called "Mr. Cuddles" and looks like a robotic version of Shenron that can breathe fire while the character rides on it. After upgrading it into gold, it will look like a robotic version of Goku's Dragon Fist. *Goriath, a boss in the Wii game Kirby's Return to Dream Land, is heavily influenced by the Dragon Ball universe. At half health, his hair turns gold and emits a fiery glow, similar to that of a Super Saiyan. He also begins to use attacks that are similar to the Kamehameha. In addition to the transformation, Goriath EX uses an attack that resembles the Spirit Bomb. Also, their gorilla-esque appearance is a reference to the Great Ape forms that Saiyans can turn into. *In Phoenix Wright: Tails and Tirbulactions, case 3, some people are seen wearing items identical to scouters. *In Team Fortress 2, the description of the vintage ban hammer (which is Gabe Newell's special joke item) says "level 9001 mallet of banishment" in reference to the internet meme. *In the game Street Fighter X Tekken, Bryan Fury has JACK-X scan Guy and Cody to determine if they are tough. JACK-X reveals that each of them have battle power levels over 9,000. Internet *''Team Four Star'' created a parody series called Dragon Ball Z: Abridged. The entire Saiyan Saga and Frieza Saga have been adapted. Characters such as Nappa, Goku and Mr. Popo, and a lot of other characters have different personalities for comical reasons. Recurring jokes usually involved Raditz, Krillin and Yamcha. The series got in legal trouble from Toei Animation and were removed from YouTube eventually, but have since returned with the end of the second season. They also made a special site for their workings. *It's Over 9000! and many other scenes have become common popular memes on the Internet today. *It has become somewhat of a meme to showcase on YouTube mock videos of the farmer's shotgun blast, originally used to retaliate against Raditz, killing many significant ''Dragon Ball'' villains. *Cell commonly appears in the Shoop Da Woop!/Imma Firin' Mah Lazah meme, and appears at the end of each episode of the Lazer Collection. *Kid Goku is seen riding the Flying Nimbus in the Ultimate Showdown video. *Four sprite series are based on Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball AF. These are Super Mario Bros. Z (see Super Mario Bros. Z wikia), Nintegaball GT, Ed Edd n Eddy Z and Mega Sonic Bros. AF. **Super Mario Bros Z contains a story similar to the Cell arc such as the conformation of Mecha Sonic holding a tournament after reaching his ultimate (perfect) form. *Dozens of Dragon Ball characters have been made and are available for the customizable fighting game M.U.G.E.N. Most of which are used with sprites from Dragon Ball Z Arcade, Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle, and the ''Butōden'' series. *Ryoku, an NPC and monster in Adventure Quest Worlds and the last of the seven opponents in the Dragon Koi Tournament, is heavily based on both Goku from Dragon Ball and Ryu from the Street Fighter series. His Soul Nuke technique is based on the Spirit Bomb, even though it takes him a long time (weeks, even) to fully charge it. He is almost finished charging it by the time the AQW hero defeats Chaos Shogun Kitsune, one of the 13 Lords of Chaos (the secondary antagonists of Adventure Quest Worlds), only to be punched and knocked out by him/her, forcing the charging to stop entirely. **The description for one of the Sandsea quest items in this game is influenced by the "It's Over 9000!" meme. References Category:Dragon Ball media Category:Lists